I Only Summon Villainesses

Chapter 313: The Soul Monolith

The man, Atlas, took me deeper into the ruinous castle. Night Guards occupied every section, wearing dark armor and red cloth, moving about the corridors doing different work. None of them paid attention to Atlas as he passed. When I’d observed the pattern long enough, it became clear that the man himself had been the one to give such an order, and was enjoying the silence it bought him.

I, on the other hand, did not enjoy anything.

The silence inside might have seemed peaceful, but I was very well aware of the cacophony drowning the crowd outside the castle walls. It had barely been twenty minutes since the new group of soldiers started to ward off the attack of the Night Fall Order, and as someone who had fought that battle for four hours straight, I could tell exactly how intense it would be for them.

We got the better end of the stick because we had the opportunity to start off slow, but they were stepping right into the heat of it. They would have to fight gruesomely to hold the line against the Night Fall Order, which was only now beginning to unleash the brunt of its full force.

’Good luck with that.’

I pulled my mind from what was happening outside and focused on the inside. The walk was longer than I expected, and Lady Fintan had already been escorted somewhere she could wait before entering the Auction. Atlas had promised this whole thing wouldn’t take ten minutes.

We’d see about that.

At some point, as we moved deeper into the hallways, his baritone rolled through the darkness and reached me.

"Which Summoner’s Academy did you attend? Solar Aces? Grundhilr?"

I was silent for a moment. Then I said, "Aetheris."

"Oh? Aetheris?" He massaged his chin. "If there was any Summoner’s Academy in Aetheris... is it new?"

I gave him a sidelong gaze.

He shook his head.

"No, I don’t think that’s the case either. There’s no way a new Academy would have been established without me getting to know about it."

’And yet here I am.’

He sighed and finally reached the door, pausing before opening it.

"So we can’t depend on your knowledge so far?"

He opened the door and led us inside while I was trying to figure out what the hell he meant by that.

Then the light hit.

A ghostly blue glow washed over us as we entered the room, and that alone caused every thought bubbling in my head to go quiet. The man not having heard of the Summoner’s Academy in Aetheris, what exactly he meant by not being able to depend on my knowledge, all of it evaporated, because the blue light was overwhelming and its source was even more outstanding to gaze upon.

In the center of the room sat an amalgamation of spirit crystals. I could only imagine how they had managed to build something like this. It looked like it had been cut from a larger crystal, fragmented in a way that reflected the room back at itself in no fewer than a hundred different angles.

Its blue surface carried the stunning calm of undulating sea waves, and the light it cast spread forth like something alive, fierce and unhurried, encompassing every corner of the room and pulling it into its domain. The glow it left behind was eerie and strangely tranquil, coating the entire chamber in cold blue.

There were people here. Some women, some men, all of them donned in armor different from the Night Guards I’d been seeing. Silver, reflective, catching the Monolith’s light and throwing it back, reinforcing the chamber’s already blinding luminance.

As Atlas entered, he moved one hand over his eyes to shield against the influx of light and said calmly, "Let’s get done with this as fast as we can. I hate coming to this place."

’Well, you insisted. Not me.’

I didn’t respond and instead looked around. Contrary to him, I was unaffected by the light. If anything, there was a strange flow of essence seeping into me. Faint, but steady. A slow, quiet rejuvenation settling into my body like warmth filling a cold room.

’Huh... strange.’

I figured it had to do with the nature of the crystal, but it was strange nonetheless. Atlas had already stepped forward and was speaking to one of the attendants in silver armor. The woman looked toward me and nodded as she listened to whatever he was telling her.

After that, he walked back to me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You’re in good hands," he said, and then stepped out.

I watched him leave, then turned my head back to the woman, who was now standing in front of me.

"This is the Soul Monolith," she began. "It is one of the very few material sources of overwhelming spirit essence, far surpassing what a human soul is capable of producing. If you’ve noticed, it seems to be seeping inside you already."

She must have caught something on my face the moment she said that, because she added quickly, "It’s not an unnatural phenomenon, don’t worry. When you’re in a closed space with an object of overwhelming essence that can’t consciously contain itself, your own essence subconsciously serves as a pulling force, absorbing as much as the object can release. That’s what makes Soul Monoliths so rare and precious."

She chuckled and then mumbled, almost to herself, "Of course, aside from the fact that they can power atrocious weapons... enough firepower to destroy cities with a single shot."

"Huh?"

She jerked and smiled quickly. "Oh, never mind what I said. Please follow me."

’No, I definitely minded that.’

She led me toward the stone. The Monolith itself was encased within a railing that prevented anyone from getting too close. As she led me nearer, she spoke again.

"Directly touching it can flood you with more essence than your soul can contain. That can shatter your spirit core, and from there, either turn you into some kind of Spirit Beast or cause a reflux that leads to death. Or worse, it renders you useless for the rest of your life."

She paused, her tone hardening slightly.

"So please. Whatever you do, do not touch it."

I nodded, taking that warning deep into my heart. Took it personally, even, despite the fact that I really, truly felt like touching it.

"Also, stop looking at it."

I blinked.

"Your soul continues to desire it when you stare... but that’s one of the Monolith’s ways of being the winner in the end. It will destroy your soul, and all the essence you’ve absorbed will drift right back to it."

I turned to her with genuine shock in my eyes, then slowly turned back to the large blue crystal.

’For something so unconscious, you sure devised one hell of a killing scheme...’

I forced my gaze away.

She led me to a platform a few meters from the stone and nudged for me to stand in its center. After I did, she asked, "Is it okay to take off your shirt?"

I raised my brows in confusion.

"Because you want to measure the quality of my soul?"

I squinted at her.

’Or are you a perverted comrade too?’

She frowned.

"Please do not look at me like that. You aren’t even as ripped as many soldiers I’ve met for you to be looking at me like that."

I chuckled as I started removing my armor. "Sure."

I finally pulled the shirt off, and there I was, standing before her with my divine body aesthetic and physique on full display.

She gulped.

"Oh..."

I glanced down at her from the platform and scoffed. "Comes premium. Nothing like you’ve ever seen."

She gulped again and blinked.

"I see..."

I would be lying if I said I didn’t catch that small look of regret cross her face as she glanced between me and her comrades moving around the chamber.

She brought a couple of wires and began attaching them to my body. Each time her hand met my skin, her eyes went wide and a faint pink blush crept across her jade-like complexion.

She was finally done, and trying not to stumble, she stepped back. Actually staggered back.

She was holding some flat device that, if I didn’t know better, I would’ve called a tablet. But it seemed more like a control mechanism of some sort.

"Now what?" I asked, turning to study the waves of blue glow still flowing out of the Soul Monolith.

"Now... we see what your actual Soul rank is."

She operated the device for a moment, and I felt soft tingles ripple through my body, like something injecting into me, then pulling a sliver of essence back out in a gentle, clinical manner that was over in seconds.

I turned to the woman when I noticed she had gone completely silent.

Her mouth fell open. She covered it with her hand.

At the same time, her colleague standing beside her glanced over and said, "Is it that pathetic?" He was chuckling, and that annoyed me a bit, but I didn’t need to do anything because the moment he leaned in to look for himself, the laughter died.

He trembled and staggered back.

"Oh hell no... how come..."

His eyes widened.

"We have another one after how many years..."